Posted on 08/23/2004 12:35:25 PM PDT by BushisTheMan
Ottawa, provinces must devote more funds to health, says CMA head
CREDIT: Frank Gunn, CP Incoming CMA president Dr. Albert Schumacher: An increasing demand for private services.
TORONTO -- Canadians will increasingly travel to the United States to pay for medical care unless governments in this country finally devote the public funds to the health system that it needs, says the new head of the country's medical profession.
In an interview with CanWest News, Canadian Medical Association president Dr. Albert Schumacher added that if the "crisis" isn't fixed, public pressure will only intensify for a parallel private system in which Canadians can pay for faster treatment in their own communities.
Schumacher, a Windsor, Ont., general practitioner, said that Canadian patients are not getting the timely access they need to a range of medically necessary health treatments.
"There is a patient demand. Where I live in Windsor, I see people go across the border on a continuous basis because they want to buy more."
Schumacher offered no personal opinion on whether Canadians should be allowed to dip into their own wallets to purchase health-care services that are covered by medicare.
"It's a very loaded question. Look, I see the reality all the time. It's not whether I think it's good or not. I see them go across the border. I see hospitals and institutions (in the U.S.) that have bailed our system out a number of times when the waiting list got too long. And that goes back over the last 20 years."
When asked if this situation means there will be increased pressure within Canada for a parallel private system alongside the public system, Schumacher was clear:
"Yes. There will be. When the government realizes that Canadians are spending in excess of $1 billion a year outside the country on medical services, yeah. Is that number going to keep on increasing? Sure."
Schumacher said there are "multiple solutions" to the problem, with the primary answer being better government funding of medicare to improve hospital infrastructure, buy more medical equipment, and get more doctors into the system.
This will better ensure patients get the care they need within the public system, he said.
Schumacher warned that with an aging population, the rising cost of treating Canadians will be "staggering." He said if Canadians expect to continue receiving the health services of today, much less the "new developments of tomorrow," their governments will have to commit a lot more money to the system.
And this is the system Kerry wants to bring to the United States. Nope. Not on my watch.
we go there for drugs, they come here for surgery.
isn't that free trade?
Our Republican gov here in MN thinks it's great. I'm not so
sure.
. . . the US implements a Canadian-style system, in which case the Canadians will have nowhere to go to, nor will the Americans. It's the US fee for service system that keeps the Canadian system from being rejected--middle and upper class Canadians know that, if push comes to shove, they can go to the US and pay out of pocket for immediate care. If they ever lose that option, then the Canadian system will fall apart.
Been like this for a while. In November and December, the doctors offices near the border are flooded with Canadians.
But...but...the American private medical system is evil!
This story is obviously designed by Bush cronies in the Halliburton propaganda lab to make socialized medicine look bad. [/tinfoil]
If Canadians continue to put wage-caps on their doctors, no matter how many doctors they get, they will still be lousy doctors.
Hey, it ain`t so bad. If you have a burst appendix you only have to wait a few months to have it removed.
It's not a question of money.
Canada already devotes a much larger percentage of its GNP
to operating its medical system
than do other socialist countries
including Sweden.
The problem is that Canadians are lazy, slow-witted and stupid
and their average IQ is below 90
as a result of decades of 'brain-drain' to the USA.
Canadians are the worst people on earth
that would one could choose
to make a socialist economy function
even with minimal efficiency.
In the end
Canadian Socialism will make the good old USSR seem like paradise
in comparison.
Not only that, but doctors are leaving Canada for the U.S. as well, since they cannot practice quality of care: Canadian "resource queues" cause delay of diagnosis and treatment.
This is an amazing statement. If they decide to make it illegal, what will they do, ask all the snowbirds returning the the great white north in the spring to disrobe so they can check for fresh scars?
Canadians love their National Health Service to death!
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